New russian helicopter can land on top of Mount Everest, never ages

http://en.rian.ru/video/20110210/162539714.html

by the-kenny • 15 years ago

13 18 15 years ago

en.rian.ru

wybo• 15 years ago

Wasn't this done already?

http://www.everestnews.com/stories2005/everestcopter05272005...

stcredzero• 15 years ago

To me, the "never ages" part is the most interesting, though in terms of aerospace, this doesn't have to be literally "never". An "estimated service life of 150 years" would be half again as long as humans have had powered flight, and would basically amount to the same thing.

BCM43• 15 years ago

It's going to be completely irrelevant and out of date within 50.

arethuza• 15 years ago

"Designers say the helicopter’s performance is quite unique, that it will not age. Special wear resistant composite materials are used on the helicopter’s fuselage"

I'd have thought that most problems with helicopters come from the engines and other complex parts, not the fuselage.

noonespecial• 15 years ago

Perhaps an exciting first step to retrieving all of the human remains and the litter that's accumulated on the ascent over the years? Clean up the joint a bit?

shortlived• 15 years ago

No according to the article, it can fly as high as Mount Everest, but that is a lot different than landing on the peak.

Nick_C• 15 years ago

Yeah. Helicopters in flight use less power because of "free" translational lift, the lift provided by air flowing over the rotor because of the helicopter's forward speed.

It uses much more power to lift off when stationary because there is no translational lift.

So if the helicopter is at maximum power while moving, it has no "extra" power to hover or land gently or take off. It can fly as high as Everest, but it can't land or takeoff.

I remember reading (I think it was "Chickenhawk", great book) that some pilots in Vietnam with an overloaded helicopter stuck on a ridge would basically drop it off the side of the ridge to get some forward speed before they would recover and climb up to altitude. That takes guts.

While I'm telling anecdotes, a long time friend had always wanted to fly, it was his dream, so he joined the Air Force after school. He passed the basic ab-initio training with flying colours and got assigned to heavy transports. He quit after two years. I was very surprised and asked him why. He said he was so scared he couldn't handle it. (He wouldn't say what, but I assume something like short landings at night on unmade strips in the middle of the bush, etc.)

furyg3• 15 years ago

What's up with the whacky accent? I hear this in demonstration / marketing videos from big industrial companies all the time, and I can't figure out why you'd want someone who speaks so oddly.

"We need a professional sounding English narrator. British accent, of course, it's more refined. But not a native speaker... that's too ordinary. We need someone who's faking a British accent. Also, random word emphasis is a plus."

leoc• 15 years ago

Euronews http://www.euronews.net/ speaks with more or less exactly this accent too.

al05• 15 years ago

I am british, and I could not stop laughing at the accent. You can tell its how someone not britain thinks how a british person speaks. Waaay to exaggerated.

varjag2• 15 years ago

Nice to meet you Mr. Brown. How do you do?

English curriculum in Soviet schools was meant to be based on British English, but of course precious few teachers ever traveled to the UK or interacted with Britons.

jws2• 15 years ago

Perhaps he learned his accent from watching Harry Potter hims. I kept expecting him to chastise young Mr. Potter.

varjag2• 15 years ago

Looks like Mi-8 after a facelift.

zwadia2• 15 years ago

That's truly amazing because I can't recollect a Helicopter that big making it to 8,800m as they claim. Usually it is very light copters that can do that. Clearly the Indian army will want to get their hands on this as they operate in the highest battlefield on earth: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siachen_Glacier

Evacuating troops and dropping supplies there is difficult to put it lightly.

zwadia2• 15 years ago

And yes the accent was "extra-normal" quality.

New russian helicopter can land on top of Mount Everest, never ages

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